Manchester Airport ‘police attacker’ denies he ‘saw red’ and began ‘pummelling’ officer who was trying to arrest his brother, court hears

One of two brothers on trial for assaulting police at Manchester Airport today denied that he ‘saw red’ and began ‘simply pummelling’ an officer.

Footage of the confrontation last July went viral on social media after PC Zachary Marsden was caught on film kicking prone suspect Mohammed Fahir Amaaz.

He and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, now 26, are both on trial accused of using ‘a high level of violence’ against PC Marsden and two female officers.

A jury has been shown CCTV and police body-worn footage showing Amaaz striking and kicking the officers, leaving PC Lydia Ward with a broken nose.

Meanwhile Amaad was captured raining punches on PC Marsden, who was armed, before both brothers were Tasered and arrested.

The officers had been attempting to arrest Amaaz, then 19, as he was suspected of headbutting a passenger at a Starbucks café minutes earlier.

Giving evidence at Liverpool Crown Court last week, Amaaz claimed that when he was ‘grabbed’ by PC Marsden at the Terminal 2 car park pay station he hadn’t realised he was a police officer.

He said he resisted arrest even when he saw his police uniform because he feared PC Marsden was ‘going to batter me to the point where I’m dead.’

Muhammad Amaad, 26, arriving at Liverpool Crown Court where he today told a jury he fought back against an armed policeman because he thought he was ‘choking’ his brother, Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (pictured last week)

 Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, arriving at Liverpool Crown Court last week before he told a jury he fought back as an armed officer tried to arrest him because he feared he planned to ‘batter me to the point where I was dead’ 

Muhammad Amaad, 26, (left) and his brother Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, (right) arriving for their trial at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday either side of their solicitor, Aamer Anwar

‘It just felt like I was fighting for my life,’ he added.

Today Amaad – who earlier said he realised from the start that the trio were police officers – was cross-examined over the level of force he had used against PC Marsden after pushing him away from his brother.

He was shown slowed-down footage of how he repeatedly punched the officer, who had backed away onto a seat against one side of the pay station.

Amaad denied forcing PC Marsden towards the wall, saying he had his eyes closed after the officer had thrown a punch towards him.

‘He didn’t pose a threat to you, did he?’ asked Adam Birkby, prosecuting.

Amaad replied: ‘He’d just smashed me in the face, you’re talking about seconds.’

‘Was that in retribution for him punching you in the head?’ Mr Birkby asked.

‘No,’ Amaad replied.

Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (in blue) was seen to throw ten punches at the officers during the violence, while his brother – Muhammad Amaad (far left), 26, who is also on trial – threw six

Constable Lydia Ward, who jurors heard is heavily pregnant, previously told of being ‘terrified’ after coming under attack from Amaaz – as footage of her injuries was was shown to a court

Asked if he accepted throwing six punches, Amaad said he ‘wasn’t counting’.

He denied that PC Marsden no longer posed at threat by that point, telling the jury all the punches he threw were ‘defensive’.

Mr Birkby asked: ‘Is the reality that in the heat of the moment you saw red and just started throwing punches at this officer?’

‘No,’ Amaad said.

Denying pushing PC Marsden into a corner, left-handed Amaad said the officer was holding onto his T-shirt.

Asked by Mr Birkby why in that case he was punching his head rather his hand, Amaad said he was ‘just in the moment’.

Questioned on whether he was holding the officer down ‘so you could land your punches with your dominant left hand on his head’, Amaad replied: ‘No.’

Mr Birkby put it to Amaad that he was ‘simply pummelling him with six punches when he was in a position where he could not defend himself’.

‘I disagree,’ he said.

Earlier Mr Birkby quizzed Amaad on why they hadn’t called police after airline passenger Abdulkareem Ismaeil allegedly racially abused their mother and threatened to kill Amaaz.

Police bodyworn camera footage shown to the court shows PC Ward being comforted by PC Ellie Cook 

Amaad denied that airport CCTV showed his brother had been inviting Mr Ismaeil outside for a fight, and insisted he wasn’t lying to protect support his account.

‘I’m going to suggest that from start to finish it was your brother who was angry and aggressive, do you agree?’ Mr Birkby asked.

‘I disagree,’ Amaad replied.

Amaad accepted that he would have expected police to want to speak to his brother about the headbutt.

But he denied making a ‘connection’ with what happened five minutes earlier when the officers arrived to arrest Amaaz at the pay station.

Earlier Amaad, a former KFC assistant manager, told jurors that he reacted in defence of his brother because he thought PC Marsden was ‘choking’ him.

Asked by his barrister Chloe Gardner if he immediately saw they were police, he replied: ‘Yeah.’

Amaad said the officers ‘grabbed’ his brother without announcing who they were or what they wanted and began forcing him towards the ticket machine.

‘I didn’t understand the need for the aggression,’ he said.

Amaad said he saw an officer – who he later learnt was PC Marsden – ‘grab’ his brother by the neck, and responded by saying: ‘Easy, easy, easy.’

Mohammed Fahir Amaaz is seen arriving at Liverpool Crown Court at the start of his trial 

Amaaz’s brother Muhammad Amaad, 26, is also on trial over the alleged attack at Manchester Airport (he is seen arriving at Liverpool Crown Court on June 30)

‘I was trying to de-escalate the situation,’ he told the jury.

Amaad said at this point he wrongly thought PC Marsden had both hands around his brother’s neck.

‘I thought he was choking him,’ he said.

Amaad said he put his arm on the officer’s arm and said: ‘What are you holding his neck for? There’s no need for it.’

Denying pushing the officer, he added: ‘I just wanted his hand off his neck.’

Amaad said he then felt a ‘bang’ to the face and put his hands out.

Saying he felt ‘shocked’ and ‘stunned’, he said: ‘I genuinely didn’t know what hit me, I was caught by surprise.

‘I didn’t know who was punching me, my eyes were closed.’

Amaad said he and PC Marsden ‘sort of fell over onto the chair’ and he could feel ‘punches and holding and grabbing’.

‘I had to defend myself,’ he added.

Still from CCTV of the altercation at Manchester Airport on July 23 last year showing Muhammad Amaad (centre with back to camera) punching PC Zachary Marsden (obscured) as his brother Mohammed Fahir Amaaz (top right, in light blue) punches PC Ellie Cook

Moments later Muhammad Amaad sits with his hands behind his head after being Tasered by PC Marsden.

Amaad said the incident happened ‘really quick’ and he felt ‘disorientated’.

‘I punched out because I was being punched,’ he said.

Amaad said when he felt the ‘pulling and pushing’ stop he ‘stepped up’ and saw PC Marsden pointing what he later learnt was his Taser at him.

‘I just felt a sharp pain hit my chest,’ he said.

Amaad said his legs immediately felt ‘weak’ and he fell backwards into the seats.

At that point he saw the officer had a firearm and feared he was going to be shot, so put his hands behind his head.

‘I just thought to myself “I’m not dying today”,’ he said.

‘I’ve been punched, Tasered, I’m not going to die today.’

Questioned by Ms Gardner he said he ‘considered’ that PC Marsden might shoot him, Amaad said he did.

Amaad said he then saw his brother ‘flat’ and ‘stiff’ on the ground.

Jurors have been shown CCTV and bodycam footage in which Amaaz is Tasered after punching firearms officer PC Ellie Cook and PC Lydia Ward – who was unarmed – in the face.

PC Marsden is then seen to kick Amaaz in the head as he lies on the ground.

Today Amaad said he did not see PC Marsden kick his brother in the head because their elderly mother was in the way.

Amaad said he was shouting out ‘Mum’ and was also worried about his young nephew.

‘I didn’t want her to be next. I didn’t want the officers to start on my mum.’

He denied reaching for PC Marsden’s firearm.

Asked again by Ms Gardner why he initially struck out at PC Marsden at the pay station, Ammad said: ‘At that point I was trying to make him stop and defend myself.’

When he gave evidence earlier in the trial, PC Marsden told jurors that as he attempted to gain control of Amaaz in order to arrest him, he felt an ‘immense weight’ pressing on him from behind.

He later realised this was Amaaz’s brother Amaad.

His ‘initial fear’ was that ‘someone is trying to get to my gun’, a loaded Glock semi-automatic, out of its holster, he said.

He said Amaad – who was ‘taller and larger build than me’ – then grabbed his body armour, dragged him to the bench and subjected him to ‘blows from all directions’.

PC Marsden said he had been assaulted on duty multiple times but could ‘confidently’ say the punches were ‘the hardest I’ve ever felt in my life’.

Asked today about the incident during which the airline passenger was headbutted by his brother, Amaad insisted it had been in self-defence.

He said they had gone to meet their elderly mother from a flight, only for her to tell them a fellow passenger had been calling her a ‘P*** b*tch’ throughout the journey.

Amaad said as they were walking through the arrivals hall she pointed out the passenger, Mr Ismaeil.

He said his brother ‘calmly’ asked Mr Ismaeil to explain but that the passenger said the racial abuse had been aimed at a ‘little girl’ sitting nearby.

Amaad said that as his brother asked for an apology, Mr Ismaeil threatened to ‘smash’ his brother, saying ‘You don’t know who I am’ and ‘I’ll kill you’.

Describing the headbutt, Amaad said his brother ‘defends himself’ because Mr Ismaeil was ‘in his face’.

Neither brother has ever been arrested, cautioned or convicted, the trial has heard.

Amaaz denies assault by beating, two charges of assault causing actual bodily harm, and a charge of assault by beating of a police officer acting as an emergency worker.

Amaad denies one charge of assault causing actual bodily harm relating to PC Marsden.

The trial continues.